Condevilla: One of the Most Beautiful Places on Earth

There are two people groups in Peru that are the first to be forgotten: the elderly and the children. Thursday we had an opportunity to love on the elderly of Condevilla.

Our morning started with an intense devotional from Doug Galuk. God had been speaking to him about what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. He asked some tough questions but assured us that he personally had to process through each one before he asked us.

(Doug Galuk giving medical attention to an elderly woman)

This led into a time of open and vulnerable sharing amongst our team. We shared about why we decided to come on the trip, why we thought God wanted us there and what we had learned so far. Many shared about personal struggles they were dealing with and how they would use what they were learning to make changes. We were sweetly broken.

As we boarded the bus for Condevilla, there was a sense of excitement, relief and sadness. Excitement because we would be reunited with many of our Condevillian brothers and sisters, relief because the schedule of the day was much less taxing than the previous 6, and sadness because it would be the last time we spent at the church.

Upon arrival, we were greeted in the typical Peruvian way- shouts of hello, big hugs and a kiss on the cheek. Though it had only been 12 hours since we last saw some of our family, they greeted us as if it had been years! And, that’s just the way we like it.

Lining the wall of the church were the elderly of the community. They had been given word that they would be given medical attention for no cost. In addition, they would be served a warm meal and be given an opportunity to fellowship with other seniors- an occasion that doesn’t happen often.

(Chris Russell providing care)

Throughout the afternoon, the care providers saw patients and the optical team fitted people with reading glasses. While people were waiting, we talked with them and encouraged them to play board games. It’s quite a challenge to try and explain all the rules of Yahtzee to an elderly woman in Spanish… but she had fun rolling the dice! The church was buzzing with energy and excitement as we interacted with this fun group of seniors.

(Heidi Jackson fitting people with reading glasses)

The afternoon continued with a rousing game of BINGO and many of the gringos got some practice with their letters and numbers by being a buddy to one of the seniors. Shouts of joy and grins from ear to ear were heard and seen as the elderly realized they had won. And they should be excited- they received practical, healthy prizes such as milk, vitamins and soap. Many of us received extra kisses on the cheek as our buddies won!

The next event of the afternoon was lunch- pollo de ahi. Included in this Peruvian dish is rice covered with a creamy chicken sauce and a hunk of potato- delicious! We are constantly amazed at how well the space in the church is used.

During a small service, a member of Esperanza Viva shared his testimony of faith. He had come to a senior outreach similar to the one we were holding and had heard the Good News of the Gospel. As he continued his story, he encouraged his counterparts to begin a relationship with the living God today. What a sweet picture of how God can bring people to himself in late seasons of life and still use them to reach others.

As the afternoon wound down, we said goodbye to these beautiful people. We cleaned up the church and packed up the action packers with the rest of the medical supplies. A few raindrops began to fall as we headed to the bus for the last time- something quite significant in Peru because they only average a few inches a year. As we pulled away, we took our last few glimpses of one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Our bus took ocean view on the way back and our nostrils were filled with the salty air. We saw some interesting sites- cars loaded down with gargantuan fish and trucks piled high with supplies. It’s incredible how resourceful Peruvians are with what they have.

(A truck piled high with supplies)

Upon arrival at the hotel, we quickly headed out to the Indian Market. We spent a few hours doing our best to buy fun momentos to remember our time in Peru and share a bit of it with each of you. When we gathered at the entrance, it was apparent that we knew how to shop based on the number of bags we were each carrying!

By this time, our stomachs were rumbling and it was time to eat! We piled in taxis to make the quick drive to Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steak house. We celebrated the work the Lord had done through us, as well as the many hours of hard work we put in, with meat- and lots of it. As the waiters came around with swords of meat, it was hard to believe they were making any money off us at all!

We returned to the hotel to drop off our gifts and then walked the 8 blocks down to the ocean for some ice cream. You may not be aware, but you have an extra stomach on the left side of body that is always empty and just for dessert. It doesn’t matter how much food a person eats at the Brazilian steakhouse, there’s always a little room for some gelato.

(Terry and Aleah enjoying ice cream)

Our faces resembled that of children as we attempted to lick the ice cream off the cone before it melted. 7 days in a foreign country bonds people together and our time eating ice cream provided an opportunity to continue processing what God was doing in our lives. We realized the night was getting late and we had to be up early to catch the bus for the baptismal service in the morning.

As we walked back to the hotel, both of our stomachs were full as were our hearts. We were filled with joy and gratitude for the opportunity to serve in Peru and content with how God had used the experience for His glory.

We parted ways and headed off to bed, except for Terry and Doug and myself (Emily). I watched as Terry’s face turned from joyous to concerned to panic. You may know the feeling, it’s the shock of “where’s my wallet?” that permeates your whole body. You begin to retrace your steps in your mind as to when you last had it and paid for something. Terry realized he had it to pay for gelato and he took off with Doug to see if it was turned in.

Long story short, Terry had been pick pocketed and the thief had entered their hotel room. He stole Terry and Doug’s laptops, all their cash and Doug’s backpack (which included his passport). Though this was a disturbing experience, both men kept a positive attitude. They reassured the team that God is sovereign and He even has a plan for this situation.

A sad end to an otherwise happy day, but life will continue.

Movin´on Up

(Part of "The Hill" that divides Condevilla from other parts of Lima)

Wow! It is incredible how much 6 hours of sleep can do for you! We woke up in Hotel La Hacienda and were treated to the normal breakfast- omelettes, toast, yogurt, fresh fruit and fruit juice. Yum!

Vicki led us in devotions by reading an excerpt from Hole in Our Gospel. Though most of us had read the book the previous year, it was exactly what we needed to hear. Though we didn’t have our normal meeting room, we filled the lobby of the hotel with songs of praise and worship. Even the hotel workers commented on our acapella singing…

The bus picked us up and we wound our way back to Condevilla. Upon arrival, Jim and Kay and a few others from the church greeted us. We organized ourselves into teams, divided up the remaining vitamins, toothpaste, tooth brushes, and medicines and headed up the “the hill.”

(A picture to demonstrate how steep "the hill" is)

The hill is a divider. While it divides Condevilla from other parts of town, it also divides the rich from the poor. Some of the poorest people live on this hill- they have no running water and many survive off a single line of electricity that has been split multiple times.

We were humbled, some for the second time, to serve these people. After making the difficult climb, we dispersed in 3 directions to visit some homes. Let’s just say, when a bunch of gringos start walking around in a place that rarely sees white people, we make a scene. People notice. Slowly they begin to poke their heads out of their homes and slowly trickle out as their trust increases.

(A view from the top)

Though each group had unique experiences, one to highlight was a group that challenged each member to share their story in Spanish. It didn’t matter if they could speak a lot or a little, they needed to do their best to communicate what God had done in their life. Every one took the challenge and succeeded!

Another unique experience that happened to me (Emily) occurred after we had dispensed all the supplies. We set down our bags to take a few pictures because the view from the hill is gorgeous! As I was smiling away, I looked over to my bag and gasped! My grin slowly turned to a frown, my brow furrowed and I yelled in horror/shock. Did you guess it? That’s right, a dog was peeing on my bag! GROSS! I shooed it away and assessed the damage. He got my bag all right…just the way I like it. Since I couldn’t do anything about it, I let it air dry for a bit, strapped it back on and went down the hill. Urine is sterile, right?

(The Culprit)

Pastor Lucho who was thrilled to prepare a home cooked meal for us and greeted us at the church. The small building buzzed with conversation as we shared our experiences. Nancy returned from doing a few home visits and was glowing. If you know her, you know that visiting people in their homes and providing care 1 on 1 is her gifting. Nancy has a high capacity to serve many people and she shared how the number of people continued to grow as word gets out that there is a doctor in the area seeing patients. We love serving alongside of her!

After lunch we returned to the hotel for a brief moment of rest before heading to El Parque de Aquas. The water park isn’t like the Noah’s Ark or Kalahari that we think of. Instead, it is an outdoor, enclosed park that lit fountains- some you can play in, some you’re not suppose to. This is always a fun night for our team to hang out, have fun and celebrate what God did during the week. A few of our Peruvians brothers and sisters joined us too.

(Claudia, Dani, Tamara, Aleah and Vicki at the Water Park)

For dinner, we bought some supplies at the grocery store and had a simple meal together at the hotel. We’ve been eating lots of incredible Peruvian food (and probably a whole month’s supply of carbs) but it was refreshing to have a light meal and get to bed early (midnight). By now we are so used to the sleep deprivation that 10 pm is viable time to eat dinner and 1am seems like a decent bedtime. We’re all doing well and staying healthy and looking forward to returning to Condevilla for our last time tomorrow. It’s going to be a great day!

Long Days, Short Week

(Vicki Griffin with a Peruvian gal. What a blessing it is to have Vicki on the team with us!)

Wednesday. The last day of clinic. The last day in Chincha. The last day working so closely intertwined with our Peruvian family. It was incredible.

As we packed up our bags and brought them downstairs, it was hard to believe our time in Chincha was coming to an end. Scot led us in devotions and Tamara in song. What a sweet time for our team to be together and begin to process what God was doing in our lives. What a joy it’s been to use our personal stories to connect on such a deep level and have rich fellowship with the Peruvians. It will be incredibly hard to leave them on Saturday.

When we arrived at clinic, lines of people had formed for each care provider. As is typical, the last day was the busiest and we saw more patients than the previous two days. Running like a well oiled machine, we finished the clinic strong. Then it was time to eat…

We returned to the same restaurant as the day before and were treated to another classic Peruvian meal: lomo secado. Think stir fried beef(?) or some other meat with spices served with rice and papa fritas (French fries). We drank our favorite limonada, which is made from Peruvian limes and lots of sugar.

Picture this: after the clinic the bus was buzzing with English, Spanish and Spanglish. Our teams had truly become one and we celebrating what God had accomplished through us. The logistics were crazy, but the clinic was an incredible success.

Chalo, the host missionary in Chincha, was excited about the potential growth of the church. The home visits, the long days of clinic and jam-packed bus rides were worth it. They were worth it to see the lives of the Chinchanos eternally impacted with the message of the Gospel.

After our appetites were satisfied by this rico Peruvian food, we returned to the school to set up for a celebration service. Members of the community were invited to return for worship, a message and an opportunity to win prizes playing Jeopardy.

(Twin girls who came through the Well Child Clinic)

A highlight of the service was a skit performed by the Peruvians. They had taken the song “I Can Only Imagine” and played out what it might look like to see Jesus face to face. The skit began with 3 people dreaming about their arrival in Heaven and what that day will be like. Jesus, also known as Matt Sanger, our pharmacist, embraced each one and welcomed them into His heaven. The skit ended with the 3 people waking up to their current reality. This skit was incredibly powerful and moved many people to tears.

After some worship and brief message, it was time to play Jeopardy. Keeping in mind that this is not a common game in Peru, it was entertaining to watch 5 Chincanos battle it out…all for the grand prize of a rice cooker. One of the categories was “charades Biblicas” or Bible Charades which were acted out by the gringos. Talk about funny! Picture Scot Dykstra as Jonah being eaten by a whale, Chris Russell as a hysterical pharaoh not ing Moses’ people to go, Matt Sanger as Jesus ascending into Heaven and Terry Schott as the angel Gabriel. Wow, were we laughing!

As the evening wore on and the stars came out, we realized our time with the Chinchanos was coming to an end. They realized it too. Kids picked a team member and clung on tight, many falling asleep on our arms.

One of the tenderest moments was watching Jocelyn, a little girl that spent all her time at the clinic the past three days, cling to Scot and fall asleep in his arms. She woke up an hour into the service and was cold, so she went home to get her sweater and returned with her mom. Mind you, she’s 4 years old. She crawled back into Scot’s lap and stayed there until the service was over. This little girl grabbed the hearts of our team and it was hard to say goodbye to this precious nina.

(Dani and Jocelyn shared a special bond over the past 3 days. Jocelyn was our little Dora the Explorer in more ways than one!)

After many goodbyes, we loaded the bus back to Condevilla. You know you’re exhausted when it takes you 10 minutes to fall asleep on a bus full of smelly bodies, the stench of body odor and bags squeezed into every nook and cranny. Incredibly, with thousands of pounds of weight, we made it back to Hotel La Hacienda in a record 2 ½ hours! You better believe we slept well!

Come and Find Rest

In order to follow, we first must come.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28

“Vengan a mi todos ustedes que estan cansados y agobiados, y yo les dare descanso.” Mateo 11:28

The theme of our trip has been “sigale” or “follow you.” We have followed God’s call in our lives to serve Him in Peru and continue to learn each day. An interesting thought I (Emily) had recently was in order to follow, we first must come.

It isn’t hard to follow after something or someone if you really want to. Twitter is a perfect example of this. The American dream is yet another. Every person is following something but if you don’t have faith in that which you are following, it becomes increasingly hard to continue.

The same can be said about following Christ. It is easy and somewhat tempting to go through the motions, especially when you’re exhausted. One can say the right words and do the right things but if he doesn’t know the person he is following, it is a path to disaster.

This thought came to me as I was processing our first few days here. We’re exhausted. In the last 3 days, we’ve probably had 12-14 hours of sleep total. Don’t worry, we’ve already calculated the math in our heads… 4-5 hours each night. The temptation is just to enter into survival mode but this would be detrimental. At some point, a person would break because they would lack faith in that which they were following- Jesus.

Though I believe our team is walking in the Spirit, pray we would rest in Christ first and then follow Him.

The rest of the blog will be written as a play by play of the day. As stated earlier, we’re exhausted. We are pooped out (literally and figuratively). We so appreciate your faithful prayers back home but the play by play style will allow us to get to bed a bit earlier. Thanks!

*Gerry led us in devotions this morning after some acapella worship. Two years ago Gerry placed his faith in Christ and completely changed his life. A year ago, Gerry was baptized by his son in the Pacific Ocean while serving on the medical mission team in Peru. This year, he shared what God had been teaching him and set us up well for the second day of clinic. We’re proud of you!

*Clinic got off to a great start! We had at least twice the amount of patients as yesterday. Care providers got to do a few surgeries, dental cranked through multiple teeth extractions and we saw over 100 kids in the Well Child Clinic. Wow! The Spiritual Clinic was definitely the highlight as multiple people prayed to receive Christ into their life for the first time. One man was able to find healing after battling with severe depression after his wife left him and their daughter. The people who walk through the doors of the clinic are broken but we are seeing lives transformed by the message of the Gospel.

*For lunch we had carapulcra con sopa seca, a dish famous in Chincha. Literally translated it means clean face with dry soup…yum! Despite it’s name, it was delicious! We each received a plate full of angel hair pasta cooked in olive oil with spices, a semi-spicy sauce with potatoes, a chunk of pork and yucca.

(Matt eating carapulcra con sopa seca)

*After dinner we returned to the hotel for an hour and a half. Many team members took naps or went to a local market. Nothing like the smell of freshly slaughtered animals on a hot day…

*Outreach for the evening took two forms- a concert for the community and medical home visits. A fair number of Chincanos who had come to the clinic the past two days returned for the service. We were thrilled to see the mother of Jocelyn in attendance, a little girl who has spent every moment at the clinic since it opened.

Chris and Vicki went on a special mission to visit some homes in the community. They thought they were only going to a few homes but had to turn people away after nearly 3 hours of visits. Both were energized as they returned on the bus, telling us of all the patients they were able to serve.

*Dinner was pork sandwiches and chips back at the hotel. As we returned for the day, we enjoyed spending a bit more time with our Condevillians brothers and sisters.

Thanks for your prayers! We are off to our last day of clinic and lots of travel back to Condevilla tomorrow. Love to you all…

Primer dia de la clinica

(Chincha, as viewed from the third floor of our hotel)

Monday was divided into two distinct parts- clinic and outreach.

The day began at 7:30 am with a team devotional and briefing. Tamara led us in the Word and shared how the Lord had been moving in her life. Last year, she translated for the clinic in Condevilla but returned to the states without much direction. She had just graduated from college and would enter the job market- making it clear to God that she would NOT work for an insurance company, live in Iowa or be on a Spanish-speaking team. Needless to say, a year later Tamara now works on a Spanish-speaking team at an insurance company in Des Moine, Iowa.

Though we can all relate to “never saying never,” Tamara challenged us to consider how far are we willing to follow God. Until it becomes uncomfortable? Until it interferes with our own plans? The theme of our team is “Sigale” or in English “Follow You.” Tamara’s devotional helped us to process how much we’re willing to sacrifice in order to follow after God with our whole heart.

Breakfast was the next “event” for the day. Remembering that Peruvians don’t do things by time, rather by events, the event of eating breakfast took about an hour. This was 30 minutes longer then we had “scheduled” but lucky for us, the “bus arrival event” happened a little later than we had scheduled as well. We’re learning…we’re learning.

It’s quite a scene to see 30+ Peruvians and 14 Americans pile out of a hotel and onto a bus. If our current jobs don’t work out, we could join the circus as professional clown car drivers. We are skilled at packing lots of people in small amounts of space. Very quickly, we can pack and repack people and equipment with out much thought. You can almost hear the music now… “Doot doot do di do di doot doot doo doo…” Now we just need some flying monkeys and an elephant who can do tricks and flaming rings with tigers. Ok, I’m done.

All kidding aside, squeezing on a bus with our Peruvian brothers and sisters is just the way we like it. It has allowed for great conversations, even if most of it is in Spanglish. We’ve bonded past the language barrier as we share our testimonies of faith and how God is moving in our lives. Just think, the language barriers we face with one another has never been a barrier for God. He hears us just the same, in our own tongue. A sweet thought to ponder…

We arrived at the school and promptly began the set up for the clinic. Compared to previous years, the conditions are incredibly favorable- we are not in direct sunlight, rather each provider has his/her own classroom, there is nice breeze blowing throughout the day and we have space to spread out! Not too shabby!

Here are a few thoughts from our team about the first day of clinic:

Tamara Sanner (Optical): “The first day of clinic was less chaotic than I expected. I really loved watching the Condevillians step up and love on the Chinchanos well. Pepe did an incredible job serving them!”

(The Optical Team)

Chris Russell (Physician): “I’m impressed by our team’s willingness to overcome obstacles. Through all the last minute changes, we stick together and serve as a unified team.”

Heidi Jackson (Optical): “I love the bonding and transparency of our whole team- Peruvians and Americans.”

Gerry Walczak (Dental): “I’m humbled by the amount of trust the Peruvians have for me and our team.”

Vicki Griffin (Nurse): “I was moved to tears as our first patient shared her story. She has 5 children and was left by her husband. She continued to explain about her medical issues but was unthreatened by Americans she had just met. I’ve become aware of the personal brokenness these people face daily and overcome by the trust they have for us.”

Danielle McLaughlin (Dental): I’m amazed at how smoothly the first day of clinic went. Communication between teams has been incredible, despite language barriers. We are not two teams working alongside each other but one team working together.”

Nancy Swisher (Doctor): “There’s two more days of

clinic- BRING IT ON!” [Nancy was also incredibly excited that the Well Child Clinic was up and running!]

Emily Bouche (Doctor of the ninos-self proclaimed): “If you know me, you know I love kids. I joke about having extra sugar in my femurs that acts as a kid magnet. I can’t think of a better place for me to fit into a medical clinic than to teach and serve children. Favorite quote of the day was from a 5-year-old boy. When I asked him if he had any more questions he said yes. His question was: ‘Why are all the Americans so tall?’ This was right after I showed him his growth chart was normal. Clearly all of the Americans are “off the charts.” Hilarious!”

Terry Schott (Head Water Boy): “I have a unique perspective on clinic as I get to see all of our team members doing their thing. I watched Gerry and Dani calm the fears of those getting teeth extracted. I got to be a part of 5 testimonies being shared in optical. I drank cowboy coffee with Matt in the pharmacy. It was great day!”

(Paoula and Terry at the clinic)

After clinic, we packed up the bus once again and ate some chicken with French fries for lunch. Most of us were fighting a severe case of drowsiness. Couple that with a warm temperature, a food coma (the glazed over feeling you get after eating) and lack of sleep, you get some pretty funny faces around the dinner table.

When lunch came to a close, around 4:30pm, we headed back to the hotel for a precious hour and a half of free time. Many teammates passed out for an hour, others took a self-guided walking tour around the city.

6:30pm rolled around quickly and we loaded the bus once more…just remember the circus you pictured earlier. We were off to the church where the Chinchanos met for service. It was time for outreach.

We arrived at the church, which is more or less a small room with some plastic chairs. Dividing into groups, we walked the streets of Chincha and went door to door giving a spiritual interest survey. The interesting thing about a spiritual interest survey in Peru is that you can be incredibly blunt and bold. Most people consider themselves religious and are willing to share their opinions.

One particular group shared with a family who had never heard the truths of the Gospel message. After clearly explaining how to begin a personal relationship with Jesus- acknowledging our sinful condition, resolving that Jesus Christ is the only provision for our sin and accepting His gift of forgiveness- the family placed their faith in Christ.

Many people were interested in the medical clinic and we hope to have more people attend because of our efforts tonight. This was the first time many of the Condevillians shared their faith and it was fun to watch them grow. We may never know how this outreach has effected the community but we went out in the power of the Holy Spirit and left the results to God.

We returned to the hotel exhausted but satisfied. As we shared pizza and soda with the Peruvians, we took time to share how God had been working in our hearts. Pepe shared his personal testimony, as did Tito. Tito used to rent the church building out to Esperanza Viva and lived upstairs. He would deliberately try to interrupt church services because of bad church experience in his past. Two years later, God has softened his heart and he one of the most genuine people you will ever meet! It was a sweet time of fellowship with our entire team!

Follow You...to Chincha

(Aleah, Tamara, Dani and Emily at the clinic)

Saludos!

Where did we leave off… ahh yes, we were about to be reunited with our Peruvian family. After a few hours of sleep, we packed ourselves back up and headed to church. Our excitement mounted as we rounded the familiar hill revealing Esperanza Viva. As expected, we were welcomed with shouts of joy, giant smiles and numerous hugs.

Service was full of life and people. One can’t help but smile when Lucho, the pastor of the church, belts out a hearty rendition of “Tu y Yo.” The song’s lyrics proclaim how a Christian is called by God to engage in the battle of faith and to share God’s greatness to the world. Here are the words to the chorus:

Tu y yo, somos un pueblo [You and I, are a people]
Tu y yo preparados [You and I, are prepared]
Para mostrar las grandezas del Senor [To show God’s greatness to the world]
Para tomar la tierra que El nos entrego [To take the world that he has handed us]

The service finished up and many sweet reunions continued to take place. What a privilege it is to step into church and be the recipients of such love and hospitality!

Next up on the agenda was the bus ride to Chincha. Kay, one of our host missionaries, reminded us that Peruvians don’t do activities by time but by event. By this she meant that the arrival of the bus was the next big event of the day but we didn’t know exactly when that would happen. So to pass the time, a few team members went to visit our previous “water boy” Manuel and a few soaked up the 85 degree sun in the park.

It was an AHOD event upon the bus’s arrival (all hands on deck). We successfully packed 14 Americans, 33 Peruvians, the Panaggios, 14 action packers, everyone’s luggage, band equipment, and food for everyone on the bus. What an opportunity to bond!

(Our bus to Chincha)

After the 3 hour ride, we arrived in Chincha and got our first few glimpses of how the town has recovered since the earthquake in 2007. Many building had been rebuilt but many piles of rubble still remained. The clinic will take place in a enclosed school building (students are on summer vacation) that is clearly the crowning jewel of the area.

The next few hours were filled with clinic preparations by sorting action packers and putting final touches on the flow or direction people will take tomorrow. Also during this time, many of us remembered how much fun it is to be a kid as we tested out the teeter-toters, swings and slide. And of course, the highlight of the afternoon was finding out the PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL! In order to find out the results, we had to call Jim’s son to look up the score online. Let’s just say there was some dancing, hooting and hollering that made the Peruvians laugh at us…

(Doug and Terry waiting to hear the results. Terry had false hope and yes, yes that is a Reggie White jersey that Doug is wearing)

The last event of the day was another worship service for the people of Chincha. As the sun dipped below the horizon, we turned on some floodlights and praised the Lord once again. Doug Galuk gave his testimony for the group (using mostly Spanish-wow!) and another message was given and then it was time to head to the hotel.

Due to complications in bus contracts, each member of our 50 person team had to take a 15 minute taxi ride to our hotel. Now, if you’ve been in a taxi in any other country (or sometimes our own), you know the thought process of, “Umm, are you going to stop? That bus is way bigger than us… No. Okay, we’ll just weave our way around them. Yep, almost got hit but not quite. Close call. Umm there’s a car coming right at us! I’m just going to close my eyes. Whew! We made it past, not sure quite how, but we made it. And- pothole! Boom! Sure didn’t miss that one.” And the dialogue could continue.

Needless to say, there are very few accidents here because everyone drives like this. And, everyone on the team made it safely. At this point, we were exhausted. We could have easily gone straight to bed with out any dinner. As it neared 9:30 pm, we checked into our rooms and met in the lobby to walk to the restaurant for dinner.

We ate family style at a Chinese restaurant about 6 blocks away. If you want to picture some irony, just think of 14 Americans and 30 some Peruvians mixed together eating vegetables and rice with chop sticks. Love it!

We didn’t realize how hungry we were until we started gorging ourselves on the multiple food options. With full bellies, we walked back to the hotel and hit the hay. Despite the sounds and smells of the city, no one had any problems zonking out.

Tomorrow, our first day of clinic. Bring it on!

Many Miles & Minutes for Amor

Amor: Spanish for love

Love: the reason we’re here

Snow fell in central Wisconsin as we gathered in the wee hours of the morning to finish packing our last minute items. 3:30 am comes around real fast, so quickly that some of our team opted never to go to bed. As we exchanged our excited yet tired greetings, we zip-tied our last action packers, loaded the bus and began our return trip to Lima, Peru.

Five years ago, we began a partnership with Esperanza Viva (Living Hope) church in Condevilla, Peru. Reaching out to the community using medical clinics have met physical needs of the community but has also allowed for spiritual and emotional healing. In the past four years, Esperanza Viva has doubled in size and moved to a larger building. It is here where the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to be preached and sustainable life change takes place.

We are returning this year to come along side our Peruvian siblings to aid and equip them in ministry. We will travel 3 hours south of Condevilla to Chincha, where Esperanza Viva hopes to build their own partnership church. A devastating earthquake toppled this small city nearly 3 years ago. The effects of the quake continue to ripple through the people of Chincha today.

But let’s get back to our travels. Everything went as planned as we arrived in Chicago- everything except Terry Schott’s wardrobe that is.

(Terry didn´t get the memo that we´re Packer fans in this team)

Now you can have a bit of sympathy for the man, as he is the only Bear’s fan on the team. As we checked in our multitude of bags and weaved our way through customs, jovial banter was to be had by all- including the airline workers. They even joked about having Bears fans in one line, Packers in another.

Our flight to Miami went as scheduled and we continued to bond as teammates. Just when we thought everything was running like clockwork, we hit our first bump in the road. Actually, it turned out to be more of a boulder. After boarding our plane for Lima, we were informed of some repairs that needed to be done to the plane.

So they fixed the broken patch. We taxied. We stopped. We returned to our stall.

The pilot was embarrassed to announce another problem that was overlooked. But, not to worry, it could be fixed in 45 minutes. They just needed some quick-drying glue. No joke. They glued some part of the plane back together in 15 minutes and then had to let it dry for 30.

Mind you, by his point it was 6:30pm- 2 hours past our original departure time. Praise the Lord for Vicki as she whipped out multiple 100-calorie snack packs for such a time as this! We munched and mingled, making new friends with our co-journers on the plane.

Then we heard it, the dreaded “bing-bong” of the intercom, signaling the captain was about to speak. You guessed it, both wings fell off and we had to slide down an inflatable raft to exit the plane. Just kidding, that really didn’t happen but it was one our hypotheses.

We were informed that another repair had to be made and we weren’t leaving any time soon. That’s just the way we like it! And we made the most of our time-

(Scot solving the Rubiks cube for the 5th time)

(Tamara relearned the wonderful game of Cribbage)

(Aleah got some quality reading time in)

We finally took off after 8 pm, 4 hours after our original departure was to take place. Not our favorite change of events, but we rested in the truth that God is sovereign and even our flight delay had a purpose.

We arrived in Lima a little after 2 am and flew through customs. Only 3 members of our team were stopped but were let through the security checks in record time. Praise the Lord! One more 30 minute bus ride and we arrived at La Hacienda, a second home to many of us on the team.

Though reminiscing about our travel day may seem humorous at times, some of you readers may be wondering- why? Why spend 24 hours and travel hundreds of miles to put on a medical clinic? What’s the point?

(We made it! Our whole team on a bus in Peru)

Amor. Love. It’s that simple. We love because He first loved us. We have been so changed by the love God has shown us that we want to share it with the world. And it’s worth the travel, the delays, the customs, and the sleep-deprivation. It’s worth it.

Now, after much anticipation, a reunion with our Peruvian family awaits us…stay tuned.